Bambi
RKO Radio Pictures | Release Date: August 21, 1942 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
91
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The adroit mixture of pantheism and sentimentality continues to be sufficiently timeless to allow Disney's heirs to recycle this picture endlessly. Read full review
100
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
It’s beautiful, powerful stuff. The Disney animators evoke a naturalism of such depth and detail that you feel shrouded by the forest. Then, just when it seems as if you’re watching a nature documentary, bursts of artistry arrive in the form of choreographed raindrops or a wildly impressionistic forest fire. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineMichael Scheinfeld
This honest, non-sugar-coated approach to the hard truths of life, however, is what gives Bambi its lasting emotional power, and makes it stand apart, not only from Disney's cartoons, but from virtually all others as well. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
More than any self-declared masterpiece in the Disney catalog, Bambi has earned the right to be called timeless, because its concerns are transcendent and universal. Read full review
100
EmpireAndrew Osmond
The fun and fear, the silliness and heartbreak, are taken to vivid extremes by Walt's entwining of high art and what snobs will always deride as Disney-kitsch. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesCharles Solomon
Despite all the good fun, Bambi remains a potent story that touches deep fears and emotions. Few scenes in animation--or live action film--match the poignancy of the death of Bambi's mother, a sequence that still moves children (and adults) to tears. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklySteve Daly
Whatever Kleenex moments it causes, Bambi is unmissable. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris Nashawaty
Naturally, if you’re putting it before youngsters’ innocent eyes for the first time, you’ll want to stick close by in order to play grief counselor when Bambi’s mother ”meets” a hunter in the woods. Read full review
90
IGNR.L. Shaffer
Despite its age, Bambi continues to dazzle and amaze. Read full review
90
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
From Disney's richest period, interleaving splendid animation with vulgar Americana. Read full review
90
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Bambi is gem-like in its reflection of the color and movement of sylvan plant and animal life. The transcription of nature in its moments of turbulence and peace heightens the brilliance of the canvas. The story [by Felix Salten] is full of tenderness and the characters tickle the heart. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStaff (Not Credited)
In his search for perfection Mr. Disney has come perilously close to tossing away his whole world of cartoon fantasy. Meanwhile, of course, Bambi is going to please a great many people, for all our churlish exceptions. Read full review
70
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
Edward Plumb's background music is expertly keyed into the production, but none of Bambi's four songs is notable. Some innovations are. For the first time, Disney has done his backgrounds in oils instead of watercolors. The result is striking. The russet reds, browns, bright yellows, make autumn look like autumn. Each season has a special color impact. Read full review
70
The New YorkerPauline Kael
There's no denying that for many people sequences such as Bambi's birth have an enduring primal power.
63
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.
While not nearly as emotionally impacting as some of Disney’s other classics, Bambi might be the most restrained and lyrical of the bunch, a poem to the simplicity and purity of natural life. Read full review
60
Film ThreatStaff (Not Credited)
Bambi is not a great film. The film has a few memorably winning sequences which have become part of Disney pantheon. But in between these sequences are fairly dullish stretches of Disney kitsch, with too-cuddly animals in extreme states of too-cute behavior; there’s also a song score which is among Disney’s least interesting. Read full review
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